Mallett, 26, was drafted by the Patriots in the third round of the 2011 draft after playing his college ball at Arkansas. In his three NFL seasons, he has thrown just four passes, completing one for 17 yards and throwing one interception. This preseason, he went 14-for-26 for 161 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions.

In a conference call earlier Sunday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said that keeping three quarterbacks was not a difficult decision to make when cutting the roster down to 53 players on Saturday.

“Fortunately, we have three good players at that position, three players we have a lot of confidence in,” Belichick said. “I’m sure there are some teams in the league that don’t have that feeling about that position. They may not have one, I don’t know. I’ve been in that position before and it’s not a good place to be. We’re fortunate we have three good players there. It’s a good situation.”

In other moves Sunday, the Patriots claimed defensive lineman Bruce Gaston off waivers from Arizona and rookie defensive lineman Kelcy Quarles off waivers from the New York Giants.